The eminent brother Waṣī Allāh likewise quoted this from him in his commentary on al-Faḍāʾil (2/924) and endorsed it, because he had not come across the two weak routes.*

3327 — “Whoever recites a letter from the Book of Allah will have one good deed for it, and a good deed is multiplied tenfold. I do not say that Alif-Lām-Mīm is one letter; rather, Alif is a letter, Lām is a letter, and Mīm is a letter.”

Al-Bukhārī recorded it in al-Tārīkh (1/216/679), and al-Tirmidhī (8/115/2910), both through the same chain of transmission. Their wording—al-Tirmidhī’s wording being followed—reads: Muḥammad ibn Bashshār narrated to us: Abū Bakr al-Ḥanafī narrated to us: al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn ʿUthmān narrated to us, from Ayyūb ibn Mūsā, who said: I heard Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī say: I heard ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd say: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: … and he cited it.

Al-Tirmidhī said:

“This hadith is also narrated from Ibn Masʿūd through routes other than this one. Abū al-Aḥwaṣ narrated it from Ibn Masʿūd: some raised it to the Prophet, while others stopped it at Ibn Masʿūd.” Abū ʿĪsā said: “This is a good, authentic, singular hadith through this route.”

I say: Its chain of transmission is sound. All its narrators are trustworthy and are among the narrators relied upon by the Two Shaykhs, apart from al-Ḍaḥḥāk ibn ʿUthmān. Muslim relied upon him, though scholars differed concerning him. Al-Dhahabī said in al-Mīzān:

“Truthful.”

Al-Ḥāfiẓ said in al-Taqrīb:

“Truthful, but makes mistakes.”

It seems that al-Bukhārī alluded to this when he said, following the hadith, in al-Quraẓī’s biographical entry: